Croat Offensive Eases Life in Sarajevo

Staff members at the Rasova public health clinic say that patients are starting to appear again in the clinic's waiting rooms after weeks of being too fearful of shelling to leave their homes.

Not that the clinic is as full as it used to be. No one knows how long the lull in the shelling, which is at the lowest level in two months, will last. But there are enough people coming to the clinic that patients now actually have to wait before being attended by the staff.

"Now our patients don't have to choose between being very sick at home and taking the risk of being killed by a shell on their way to the clinic," said Dr. Dortbucvic Namic.

Both staff and patients at the Rasova clinic credited the Croatian Army's offensive against rebel Serbs in Croatia for the touch of normalcy they are experiencing.

Staff and patients here reasoned that the Bosnian Serb forces were being thrown off balance by the serious attacks on their counterparts in Croatia and were holding back in Sarajevo until they determined their next move.

The diplomats and United Nations officials reported that hundreds of Bosnian Serb soldiers have been pulled back from the mountains surrounding Sarajevo, taking much of their artillery with them. They said that the Serbs apparently were preparing to redeploy some of their troops because of the Croatian Army advances on Serbian forces in both Croatia and western Bosnia.

Diplomats here said that the Bosnian Serbs also appeared to be cautious about testing the international community's new resolve to safeguard Sarajevo from shelling.

"I wouldn't say they have suddenly come to believe the rest of the world is now going to throw a mantle of protection over the city," said a western Ambassador. "I'm not sure even I believe that will happen. But with all their other troubles, the Serbs simply don't want to risk a miscalculation."

As the shelling has fallen off, Bosnian Serb authorities have also agreed to restore natural gas supplies to the city. Serbs, who control the supply lines, cut off natural gas service in May, and negotiations ever since had produced no results.

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Though there is still little electricity and no running water, restoration of gas service will enable people here to cook the beans and pasta distributed by aid agencies without having to find firewood.

On Tuesday NATO announced that if the four remaining United Nations safe areas, including Sarajevo, were attacked the alliance would respond with air strikes against Serb targets. The threat seemed to significantly raise the cost Bosnian Serbs would pay if they continued to kill civilians in Sarajevo.

Though many people in Sarajevo dismissed the NATO threat as empty, diplomats said they believed it was genuine and said the Serbs must now consider how much they can shell the city without provoking air attacks.

"I don't know where that threshold is, and I'm sure they don't know either," said a diplomat from a NATO country, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "So they have backed off with the artillery because they don't want to go too far."

Gen. Andre Soubirou of France, the commander of United Nations forces protecting supply convoys entering Sarajevo, said last week that he would allow his soldiers greater latitude in firing on Serbian troops.

After bringing in about 1,000 additional troops, as well as artillery, mortars, and tanks, General Soubirou said that his forces had the capacity to initiate combat if they thought United Nations peacekeepers were being threatened. In the past, United Nations forces were not allowed to fire unless they were attacked.

Loosening the rules on combat shows the Serbian forces that it will be more dangerous to attack the convoy route, said diplomats and United Nations officials. And despite one incident Friday night in which there were no injuries, the convoy route has been considerably quieter than usual.

"They can still fire on the trucks using that road," said a diplomat. "But their commanders are not willing to start a fight right now because they can't predict how it will end."

Serbian troops on supply convoy routes that pass through their territory are reported to have become much more friendly in the last few days. "Sometimes they even come up and shake your hand and ask how you are doing -- that's new," said a United Nations aid official.

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A version of this article appears in print on August 6, 1995, on Page 1001008 of the National edition with the headline: Croat Offensive Eases Life in Sarajevo. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe